Huge Snowfalls Continue On Canada's Pacific Coast

17th August 2012 | Patrick Thorne

WhistlerPowderNov09

The snowfall has not just broken decades-old records, it has smashed them, and passed the old record levels more than a week before the end of the month with snow still falling.
The snow has created great conditions for snow sports but challenges for operations and in some cases high avalanche danger to be be wary of if heading off piste.
The big snowfalls have been less dramatic but still spectacular further inland, where many Albertan and British Columbian resorts opened early and continue to do so, with Fernie the latest to announce it will do so for a preview weekend on November 28th and 29th.
But it's not all good news, on the East Coast ski areas are struggling to open with temperatures too warm
The snowfall window seems quite narrow too, Alyeska, the largest resort in Alaska, to the north of British Columbia is opening today but is having to rely on machine made snow to open a few runs.
In the main US states to the south it's a similar West/East split to Canada with most resorts in the West that intended to open, now open ready for Thanksgiving and reporting fresh snow if not at the dramatic levels to the north. Vail is one of the latest to open with fresh snow there.
Last week snow fell on several consecutive nights in Mammoth and on Friday 20 November a powerful storm hit Tahoe, dumping between 10 and 12 inches of new snow in the upper elevations. The following day when Tahoe's major resorts opened - Heavenly, Squaw Valley and Northstar - the storm had blown over and skiers and snowboarders were greeted with fresh powder and blue, sunny skies.

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